Nothing may be more devastating than walking through the door to find that your home has experienced a flood. You understand that you are not the first to experience this, and likely won't be the last, but in the moment, it can feel completely destroyed.
Sunshine Restoration is here to help with how to deal with your flood damage. Heavy rain, sewer back-up, appliance malfunctions, burst pipes, and so on can just be a few of the causes of a household flood. How to safely clean this up? How do I pay for this? What is the first step?
Check out our proven steps below if you have experienced a residential or commercial flood.
1. Call Your Insurance Company
Insurance policies differ from homeowner to homeowner on what the insurance company will cover in case of an emergency. Typically, the insurance company will have an adjuster visit your home and assess the damage done to determine if the loss is covered in your policy.
Be sure to make sure and document every item you can think of that was damaged. Take as many photos as possible before, during, and after cleanup. This offers a better understanding to the adjuster when they come to evaluate the damage.
It is possible that not all home insurance policies cover flood damage.
2. Stay Safe When Looking Over Your Home
Before ANYTHING the most important step of a major home disaster such as flooding, and water damage is to make certain that your family and yourself are safe. Here are a few ways you can ensure that you stay safe in your home.
Turn Off the Power
It is no shocker that water and electricity do not have the friendliest of relationships, and can be a real hazard if not taken care of. If turning off the power means that you must enter into wet areas of your home, we recommend calling an electrician to turn the power off. Remain outside of your flooded home until the electricity can be properly turned off.
Wear Proper Protective Gear
Standing water is a great breeding ground for bacteria and mold. When you do reenter your home make sure that you use protective clothing such as rubber boots and gloves to keep that yourself protected by bacteria-filled water.
Protect Your Valuable Possessions
If you have experienced a home flood the last thing you need is to have all your property in the home be damaged as well. Place tin foil under the feet of wood furniture to prevent staining of your carpet. Remove rugs that may be on wet flooring.
3. Start Water Damage Cleanup Immediately
It is essential to start your water damage clean up and water damage removal as soon as possible. In most situations dealing with these disasters are too extensive for just one person or family. DIY tips and tricks are also at times not enough to properly mitigate the damages.
Get the help from Sunshine Restoration to stay safe and make sure that all the damage is removed, and future mold issues are taken care of. The help of a water damage removal expert like Sunshine Restoration can help salvage your belongings if acted upon quickly as well as help identify needs to remove flooring, drywall, or insulation to keep mold from spreading throughout your home.
4. Dry Out Your Home
As soon as the standing water is removed from your home, you may continue to have damp belongings in your home. Once your electricity is able to be turned back on, use your HVAC system to remove humidity. We also recommend using floor fans and dehumidifiers to dry damp areas of your home quickly and effectively as well.
Having your home dry after a disaster is essential to restoring your home back to healthy and happy after severe water damage. Use the help of a professional restoration company like Sunshine Restoration to ensure a dry home to prevent any future mold or mildew build up in your home. Doing so in the first 24 hours can almost remove all the risk of mold growth.
5. Check for Mold
After the first 24 hours of a flood, mold can begin to develop in your home or commercial building. Once the growth has started it can be extremely difficult to remove. The faster you are able to remove items from the water and begin drying them you run a much lower risk of the objects being lost to mold.
If you notice extreme mold issues, it is likely you will have to remove the entire affected area. We recommend always erring on the side of caution in an effort to keep your family safe weeks and months after the water damage has initially happened by contacting a professional to evaluate the situation.
Prevent Mold After Water Damage
The moment that you find water damage in your home, take immediate measures to prevent mold. DIY projects can be serious spreaders of mold spores throughout the rest of your home as you attempt to dry things out so make sure to be extremely careful.
We always recommend having a professional assist with the drying procedures, as it will dramatically lower the chances of mold spread.
6. Begin Restoring Your Home
Repairing your home after water damage is usually the longest part of the process. The flooring may need to be replaced, walls renewed, and possessions repaired are among some of the usual needs. Major construction may be needed, luckily Sunshine Restoration can help with that too.
7. Move Back Into Your Home
Once the experts at Sunshine Cleaning and Restoration and your insurance company have given you the thumbs up, you are free to move back into your clean, dry, mold-free home.
The process may have felt overwhelming but with the help of the experts, you can breathe easy knowing you are safe again.
Getting Professional Help - The Sunshine Restoration Team
If your home has been flooded or you have suffered from water damage it often requires an immediate response by the professionals. Once the leak or water has stopped, it is time to remove the water. Doing this yourself can lead to missing something important or lead to waiting too long to call in the experts. This can drastically affect the length of time it takes to repair and restore your home after water damage.
Sunshine Restoration can get to the damage quickly, effectively, and always with a smile while taking the steps that most homeowners may not know they need to take. This typically leads to reducing costs in the long run compared to that of DIY efforts.
Hiring a water damage restoration company like Sunshine Restoration to handle your water repair or removal will allow them to start the water extraction process immediately to limit damage and prevent the growth of mold. Once mitigation is in place and further damaged is ceased the water damage restoration process can begin to build back and restore your home.
Call Sunshine Restoration For Professional Water Damage Restoration
Water damage struck your home? Unsure what steps to take first when your home has flooded? Give us a call, we would love to help you through this disaster. We are specialists in the greater Phoenix and Northern Arizona areas for all water damage restoration needs.
We intend to get you repaired and restored as quickly as possible to allow you to enjoy your home again. Give us a call at 480.912.2619 or visit us at www.sunshinerestoration.net/contact-us
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